Librarians help all sorts of people of all ages, socioeconomic statuses, education levels, and creeds find the information, resources, and knowledge they need. Because librarians perform such a wide berth of tasks to serve the public, there are specialized sectors of library work involving K-12 school libraries, public libraries, and academic libraries. If you are living in the state of Georgia and considering becoming a librarian, it is important to know exactly what you will need to do to ensure that you can meet your specific career goals.

Librarian roles come in many shapes and forms; depending on the type of librarian you want to become, the state of Georgia has a few different requirements that differentiate these different professional pathways. Like many other states, Georgia has special requirements for prospective librarians seeking roles in schools, public institutions, and academic settings. These requirements are set forth by multiple institutions, including the American Library Association, the Georgia State Board for the Certification of Librarians, and the Georgia Department of Education.

Like other US states, Georgia maintains these special requirements for prospective librarians because the state wants to ensure all librarians entering the field are adequately prepared to serve their respective communities’ needs. Whether these communities are groups of university students, citizens within a specific county, or children attending a local public school, the state of Georgia wants to ensure its population has access to resources and services they need from trained information professionals.

What kind of education and certifications does a prospective librarian need to be employed in Georgia?

Across public service, K-12 school, and academic librarianship, prospective librarians in any field in the state of Georgia must meet a few basic requirements. In each of these categories, future librarians must…

• Complete a bachelor’s degree program in any field. Similarly to other states, future librarians could choose to complete a bachelor’s degree in library and information science, but this isn’t necessary to apply and gain acceptance to an MLIS program. 

• Complete an MLIS program, ideally one that is accredited by the American Library Association (ALA). Not all employers require an ALA-accredited degree, but many do include this detail in their “strongly preferred” list of qualifications they are seeking in librarian candidates for a variety of roles.
  • The reason why ALA-accredited degrees are typically sought by employers is because it means the college or university offering the MLIS program has gone through a heavy, thorough accreditation process by the American Library Association. This accreditation ensures that the school’s MLIS program meets all the requirements deemed necessary to train and prepare librarians for success in a librarian role in the United States of America.

Once these two basic requirements are met, further certifications, testing, or education is required based on which of the three main areas of librarianship a prospective librarian wishes to enter: K-12 school libraries, public libraries, or academic libraries.

How does a person become a K-12 school librarian in the state of Georgia?

K-12 school librarians, also called media coordinators or media specialists, in Georgia have some of the same basic requirements other states require of their school librarians. For example, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission instructs that a prospective K-12 school librarian in Georgia must…

• Complete a bachelor’s degree program (ideally in education, which would also lead a candidate to a teaching license for the state of Georgia, though it isn’t an absolute requirement to become a school librarian – some states require all school librarians to also hold full teaching licensure, but this is not the case in Georgia). 

• Complete a qualifying MLIS program.

• Complete required testing to earn a full Standard Professional Media Specialist license.
  • In Georgia, these tests are known as the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACEs). 
  • The GACE tests to become a school librarian can be taken as two separate tests or altogether in one assessment. 

• K-12 school librarians must continue to complete continuing education (CE) on a routine basis to keep themselves abreast of new knowledge and best practices within the school library environment. License renewal requires certain amounts of CE credits to complete.

How does a person become a public service librarian in the state of Georgia?

Every Library Institute explains that the education and certification requirements for public service librarianship in Georgia consist of a few basic elements:

• Completion of a bachelor’s degree program.

• Completion of an accredited MLIS degree program.

• Registration to become certified under the Georgia State Board for Certification of Librarians.

• 10 hours of continuing education credit work preceding a bi-annual renewal of the professional certification from the Georgia State Board. 

Similarly to other states, Georgia’s requirements for education and certification are a starting point. Some institutions may require further certifications, training, or coursework to qualify for a librarian position within their employment structures. Some of these other requirements might include…

• Supervisory or managerial experience.

• Knowledge of multiple library operations departments, such as reference, circulation, or technical services.

• Knowledge of best practices to use when providing library services to specific subgroups of a community, such as young children, teenagers, or senior citizens.

• And more!

As with any librarian position, basic requirements are a starting point. A librarian job candidate should analyze job postings carefully to ensure they understand each institution’s specific needs and requirements fully before applying.

As mentioned in the listed requirements above, librarians can apply to the Georgia State Board for Certification of Librarians upon completion of their MLIS programs. Depending on where a future librarian wants to work, this certification may be a requirement set forth by some specific library systems. This requirement is typically set for public library systems serving larger communities within the state of Georgia.

According to the Institute of Library and Museum Services, this special state-sponsored certification helps ensure that Georgia libraries serving communities of 5,000+ people are adequately staffed with educated, certified, and trained professional librarians who satisfy a minimum education requirement to fulfill their duties successfully. The board reserves the right to set forth the requirements for each level of certification available, which varies based on the level of training and education an applicant has completed: 

• Grade 2: A Paraprofessional Certificate is granted to a person who is a graduate of a four-year college of recognized standing, including or supplemented by at least 12 semester hours in a library science program

• Grade 5-B: A Librarian’s Professional Graduate Certificate is granted to a person who holds a master’s degree in the field of librarianship from a library school program that is accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) or an MLIS from Valdosta State University received during this program’s ALA accreditation pre-candidacy/candidacy stage.

• Grade 5-D: A Librarian’s Professional Graduate Certificate is granted to a person who presents foreign credentials which satisfy the Board that they have the attainments and abilities equivalent to someone who graduated from an ALA-accredited institution.

• Grade 6: A Librarian’s Advanced Professional Graduate Certificate is granted to a person who qualifies for a Librarian’s Professional Graduate Certificate and who has completed a sixth year or more of planned graduate study in the field of librarianship from a library school whose program is accredited by the ALA.

• Grade 7: A Librarian’s Doctoral Certificate is granted to a person who qualifies for a Grade 5-B Librarian’s Professional Graduate Certificate and who holds an earned doctorate in the field of librarianship from a library school whose master’s degree program is accredited by the ALA.

How does a person become an academic librarian in the state of Georgia?

Academic librarianship requirements can vary from institution to institution – it can even vary within a single institution, depending on how many libraries or special collections exist within the school. It isn’t unusual for a college or university library to be subdivided to serve different, larger departments in a specific manner. However, there are a couple core requirements that follow between different roles:

• Completion of a bachelor’s degree in any field.

• Completion of an MLIS degree (in many cases, preferably from an ALA-accredited institution, though this isn’t a firm requirement for every academic librarian position). 

This is where meeting academic librarianship requirements in Georgia can become “stickier.” Depending on which institution a prospective academic librarian is interested in applying, other requirements may need to be met to be considered a viable candidate. Some of these potential other requirements include…

• Academic teaching experience.

• Another advanced-level degree in a relevant field (example: academic librarians serving a special collection for a college of fine arts may hold their MLIS degrees as well as another advanced level-degree in a field such as writing, theater, studio art, music, etc.)

• Supervisory or managerial experience. 

• And more!

It is important to note that academic librarianship (much like K-12 school librarianship or public librarianship) comes with its own sets of hurdles and challenges, which can impact the requirements universities and colleges are seeking within their librarian candidates. Prospective librarians considering work in academic libraries in Georgia (or anywhere else in the United States of America, for that matter) can learn more about academic librarianship through the ALA’s website.